As you probably know: Holland is a flat country with water, dikes and a
lot of wind. Only at a two hours drive from Amsterdam to the South (Maastricht) you will
find some hills. On Mallorca the country-side, we skated, is very nice. With the hills and
slopes with elevations up to 100m. But I couldn’t resist the real mountains on the
west coast. That’s why I decided to do a tour on my own.
Full report: (click on thumbnail images for
enlargements)
An early start
1."Black
ice"
2. To Polenca
At 7:00 am I started skating from Ca’n Picafort to Port
d’Alcudia and Port d’Pollenca. The road to Port d’Pollenca is super smooth:
“black ice” (fig.1). Don’t skate all the way to Port d’Pollenca to
avoid the traffic between this city and Pollenca, instead take a road to the left after 5
km (Pollenca is indicated). This narrow road is excellent to skate (fig.2).
Into the mountains.
5. Good asphalt.
6. Snakes, or...
3. Hardly any traffic.
4. Counting the km's.
From Polencia there is a very good wide road into the mountains. On that
particular friday hardly any traffic, because there is no real destination for the locals.
The first 6km is only a slight slope, but after that is hairpin-time :-) its quite steep
(7% or more). The scenery is beautifull. Because it was still early, I could benefit from
the shade of the trees. Hardly any cars, only cyclists (mostly Germans) who were surprised
to see an inline skater: “super”, “geil”, “spitze”. Some
times I could’t resist to go after them, but I had to save energy. Also the daypack
on my back of ca. 3kg was a bit of a handicap.
7. A good work-out
:-)
8. Never boring
view.
Up and down.
9. Nice downhills inbetween.
10. First glance at the sea at the
west coast.
Every now and then the road would go down a bit and you had to climb again. Be
careful, as the quality of the asphalt is not so good at all places and you don’t
want to tumble over the edge when you are doing 60 –70 kms per hour.
LLuch
11. Monasterio de LLuch.
12. the centre court.
After 20kms from Pollenca you will reach the Monasterio de LLuch. I had a look
only at the outside. This is a destination for many buses with elderly people. So be
carefull. From here I decided to continue to Soller. Also because a cyclist had told me
that the downhill to Inca is not very good (bad surface). My estimation is that the
monastry is at 600 above sea level. From here it’s 9km to Barranco de Gorg Blau;
mainly uphill.
13. On skates be
carefull.
14. Feel the
adrinaline.
Sa Colobra
15. Refreshment at intersection to Sa
Colobra
At the intersection where a road to the right goes to Sa Calobra it’s very
busy with cyclist who refresh before the next stage. The road to Sa Calobra at the sea is
12km with beautifull hairpins, known from many picures in travel guides. Unfortunately I
didn’t have the time to go down and skate all the way up again.
Continueing to Soller you will pass beautifull lakes
"Embalse de Gorg Blau" and "Embalse de Cuber".
16. Finally a flat road next to the lake.
17. What a view!
18. And up again, away from the lakes.
Tunnel fun.
19. They were
surprised to see an inline skater.
20.
Tunnel-fun ahead :-)
This is the stage where you will see hundreds of cyclists. (and a lot more cars
too). Be careful in the tunnel!!! It’s absolutely dark. So a flashing light on
your back is a must. (cyclist don’t use lights and you can easily run into them).
From my cycling experience in the Alps in France an Italy, I know that the asphalt in
tunnels is not very good. Also in the dark you lose your sense of speed, since there is no
reference.
21. Flash in the
dark.
22. Finally the
end.
Coll de Puig Major
23. Puig Major.
24. Time for a refreshment.
I continued to climb to Coll de Puig Major at about 1000m above sea level passing
along the Puig Major (peak 1443m) Very, very nice. By ths time the sun was burning and I
had to take my helmet of while climbing. After the second tunnel, it’s 14km downhill
to Soller!!! Wow…, “alive and skating” :-) Be sure you know how to control
your speed!! I only recommend this to very, very experienced inline skaters. Controling
your’s speed above 60km/h is tiring for you feet and had to make de three stops on my
way down. Also to cool my bearings :-) See also the road going down in the background of
the picture at the end of this page.
Sóller
25. T-stop wears out your wheels.
26. And from Soller up again.
In Sóller I had lunch: Boccadillos con jamon serano y cheso. Sóller is at sea
level and this means that you have to cross the “Serra de Alfabia” to get out of
the mountains. Cars can take the 3.3km tunnel, but this is not allowed for pedestrians,
cyclist and of course, skaters. This means a climb to the Coll de Soller at 496m. This is
a road with many many hairpins. Unfortunatly in every turn they have carved away the top
layer of the asphalt. This is very, very annoying (see 27 and 28).
Coll de Sóller, hairpin mountain. The way down on the other side is superb: a sea of 180 degree hairpins.
This is dangerous however: a cyclist misjudged a curve and had crashed just before I would
go down. People at the top were curious to see how an inliner would decent “how do
you brake?”. I managed quite well. You have to slow down a lot towards each pin,
because you will be launched out of the steep curves. I reached Bunyola in one piece :-)
27. Very bad asphalt in the
curves.
28. The hard way up. Very
steep.
29. and lot of hairpins goiing
down :-).
Final stage
30. Wooden train to Palma.
31. Very bad road.
From Bunyola I skated to Santa Maria. From there I took a country road to Muro.
Unfortunately at some stages the road was so bad that I actually had to walk for 1 km.
In Muro it was to dark to continu to Ca’n Picafort. The Mallorquinos drive like
maniacs, so you don’t want to be out there. I took a cab and arrived at 19:45 at the
hotel, just in time to grab a bite at dinner. Total distance 120km and an estimated
elevation of 2000m in total.
